


Piece by Piece, He Restored My Faith (That a Man Can Be Kind and a Father Should Be Great)

by Huntress8611



Series: The Stories of the Tarsus Nine [8]
Category: Star Trek, Star Trek: Alternate Original Series (Movies)
Genre: Child Neglect, Dadmiral Christopher Pike, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Food Issues, Gen, Hurt/Comfort, Implied/Referenced Child Abuse, James T. Kirk Has Issues, James T. Kirk Has Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder - PTSD, James T. Kirk Needs a Hug, M/M, Medical Trauma, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder - PTSD, Tarsus IV
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-05-24
Updated: 2019-05-24
Packaged: 2020-03-13 18:42:56
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,658
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18946657
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Huntress8611/pseuds/Huntress8611
Summary: Chris was wandering around the ship, trying to take his mind off of the horrors of Tarsus IV when he passed by the sickbay. He walked passed without a second glance at first, but turned back, thinking he’d seen something. He stuck his head in and almost fell over in shock.“Jimmy?” he asked.“Yeah, it’s me, Uncle Chris,” he said with a smirk.





	Piece by Piece, He Restored My Faith (That a Man Can Be Kind and a Father Should Be Great)

**Author's Note:**

> The title of this work is from the song Piece by Piece by Kelly Clarkson.

Chris was wandering around the ship, trying to take his mind off of the horrors of Tarsus IV when he passed by the sickbay. He walked passed without a second glance at first, but turned back, thinking he’d seen something. He stuck his head in and almost fell over in shock.

“Jimmy?” he asked.

“Yeah, it’s me, Uncle Chris,” he said with a smirk. He seemed to have a thought and began once again. “You give a shit, right? Can you try and figure out what happened to my kids? Please?” he begged, and Chris knew in that moment that he’d do pretty much anything for that damn kid.

“I’ll see what I can do.”

A few hours later, Chris walked back into the room and JT perked up.

“Did you find anything?”

“I’m so sorry. They deleted all the data, didn’t want anyone to be able to track them down and harass them.”

JT’s face fell before he quickly schooled his expression into a more neutral one. “At least whoever’s alive will be safe,” he said, sighing.

“What about you? Are you looking forward to seeing your mom again?” Chris asked, trying to cheer him up. He realized that it was the wrong thing to say when the kid flinched, though it was nearly imperceptible. “Jimmy, what’s wrong? Don’t you want to go home?”

“That’s not home,” he growled, curling in on himself.

“Why not?”

“Don’t wanna talk about it.”

“Jim-” he started, only to be cut of by the boy.

“JT” he growled, glaring at Chris.

“JT,” he amended, “I can’t do anything unless you talk. If you don’t say anything, they’re going to send you back to Frank and Winona.”

JT appeared to think for a few minutes but eventually nodded. “Frank’s an abusive bastard. He beat me and assaulted me. He’s always drunk and likes to throw beer bottles. Before you ask, I told Winona. She didn’t believe me, said that I must have earned whatever punishment I recieved. He sent me to Tarsus after I drove his car off a cliff. That was the straw that broke the camel’s back, I guess.”

Chris was horrified. Now he knew why Winona never let him visit after she got together with Frank, and was pissed at himself for not pushing harder.

“You’re not going back. I promise,” he said, standing up and leaving before he had the chance to do or say something he’d regret.

He returned a few hours later, smiling softly. “I managed to pull a few strings. You can come stay with me. If you don’t want to, you won’t go back to Frank or Winona, but you’ll end up in foster care.”

JT thought for a second before quietly saying, “You.”

He opened his mouth to say something, but stopped when he noticed something. He hadn’t put it together before, but JT was watching the doctors carefully, flinching whenever they took a step towards him. He wanted to ask, but thought better of it and insead said, “If you ever need to talk, I’m here.”

That night, while Chris was sitting at his bedside, JT had a nightmare. He didn’t make and noise, but he looked terrified. He bolted upright, his eyes blown wide, but somehow still silent.

“Hey,” he said softly.

JT flinched and pulled a knife out from under his pillow. Where did that even come from?

“It’s me, it’s Chris. You’re safe, you’re on a starship headed to Earth.”

JT slowly lowered the knife and put it back under his pillow. Chris knew that he should probably take the knife, but he couldn’t make himself take away one of the few things that make the kid feel safe. JT sniffled and burst into tears.

Chris was shocked, but he moved closer and held out his arms. “Can I?”

Expecting to be angrily rejected, he was surprised when JT nodded, but immediately pulled him into a hug.

“Hey, it’s okay, you’re okay. What happened? Nightmare?”

JT shook his head. “Memory,” he managed to say. “Not Tarsus. After.”

Chris felt something inside him twist, and he knew that he wasn’t going to like whatever JT said next.

“The- The doctors. The Starfleet ones. They’re bad. They’re  _ bad. _ They’re scary and horrible and it  _ hurt. _ They- They didn’t- They just did stuff, no explanation. The others were screaming and crying, terrified. I wanted to help them, but they strapped me down, they took my kids. They took my kids, and I don’t even know which ones, if any, are still alive. I was already scared, I was tortured by K- by  _ his _ doctors, they wanted my kids. I never told them, never. I know that- I know the Starfleet doctors were trying to help, but-” he broke off, no longer able to control his sobbing.

“God, kid, I’m so sorry. Those doctors- They’ll never have jobs anywhere  _ near _ the medical field ever again, if I have anything to say about it. If anyone else ever does something like that to you, you kick their asses and then you tell me so that I can kick their asses all over again.”

“Really?” JT said, looking up at him.

“Hell yes. And I promise, not all doctors are like that. My husband's a doctor, actually.”

JT seemed to be putting something together, and Chris realized what the pieces were at the same time as JT finished the puzzle.

“No-”

“JT. Hey, I know what you're thinking, and it’s okay. You don’t even have to be in the same room as him if you don’t want to. You can avoid him to your heart's content. We won’t be mad,” he reassured.

“M’kay,” he mumbled hesitantly, obviously still suspicious.

When they arrived on Earth a few weeks later, Phil was waiting for them at the dock. He pulled Chris into a hug before looking at JT, who had partially hidden himself behind his husband.

“JT, this is Philip Boyce, my husband,” he said. “Phil, this is JT.”

Nice to meet you,” said Phil, not expecting a response and not receiving one.

They managed to make it back home and through dinner without any problems. JT was avoiding Phil like am worm avoids a bird, but that wasn’t unexpected. After they ate, Chris showed JT to his room and Phil decided to go ahead and go to bed.

A few hours later, Phil woke up. He didn’t hear anything, but he had a feeling that he needed to get up. He stood up and walked to the kitchen, not too terribly surprised to see JT gathering up food.

Jim heard a floorboard creak behind him and whipped around, freezing in fear when he saw Philip Boyce standing behind him. He held the food he’d been stealing from the replicator closer, not wanting to risk going hungry again. He flinched when the man made his way into the kitchen, but his fear turned into confusion when the man pulled out two boxes of ration bars from an upper cabinet.

“Trade?” he asked, holding out the boxes to Jim, who managed to grab both boxes without dropping any of the other food he was holding.

Phil sighed, and said, “I don’t mind you having a stash of food, but I’d prefer it not be something that will go bad quickly. It’ll start to rot and smell and it’s a waste of food.” JT still looked suspicious, so he continued, “Chris and I can take you to the store tomorrow and get some non-perishable food.”

“Store?” he asked quietly, surprising Phil.

“We usually only use the replicator when we can’t make it to the store or don’t have time to cook,” he explained.

“Okay,” JT said, setting the food on the counter before bolting around Phil and running back into the his room and locking the door.

“Phil?” he heard Chris mumble from their bedroom. As crawled bacK into their bed, Chris continued, “What happened?”

“I caught the kid trying to sneak food out of the kitchen.”

Chris looked at him, eyes wide. “Please don’t tell me you took it or got mad.”

“Do I  _ look  _ like an idiot, Chris?” Phil said dryly. “I just convinced him to trade what he had for a few boxes of ration bars. Told him that the perishables he had would go bad and that it’d be a waste of food. I also said we’d take him to the store and get some non-perishable stuff for him to hold on to.”

Chris nodded approvingly and wrapped his arms around his husband, both of them quickly falling back asleep.

JT sat down on the floor with his boxes of ration bars, trying to process what had just happened. The doctor had caught him stealing food and wasn’t mad. He didn’t even make him put it back! Well, he convinced him to trade, but same difference. And he’d said that he and Chris would take him to get more? JT was confused. He didn’t understand these two, how Chris seemed to be willing to do anything for him and how Phil was a doctor, but was also somehow nice. Jim decided that he’d figure it out in the morning and drifted off to sleep.

He awoke to the smell of eggs and got up, making his way to the kitchen. The moment he sat down a plate of eggs was placed in front of him. Definitely not wanting to turn down food, he started to eat, still somewhat asleep.

Once he’d finished, Chris addressed him. “Ready to go to the store?”

He nodded, definitely not willing to turn down the offer of a food stash.

”Great.”

They all finished up their food and got ready to leave. Jim allowed himself a small smile as they walked out the door. For just a moment, he let himself believe that maybe, just maybe, this would go well, that they were good people, that he could be happy.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The ending's shit. Sorry. Endings are hard.

**Author's Note:**

> Ending's shit. Endings are hard. Sorry.


End file.
